The Routine-Building Handbook

Your All-in-One Habit Builder for Increased Productivity, Inspired Work, and Lasting Success

Ashley Brown

• Publisher: Ulysses Press
• Year: 2022
• ISBN:
  9781646042869
• Topic: Personal Development
• Subtopic: Time Management

Learn how to create a happy, balanced lifestyle with this easy-to-use, practical guide. Discover the power of starting and maintaining daily routines and rituals to help you decrease your stress levels, improve your sleep, and revolutionize your productivity. Routines are crucial to work-life balance, but establishing those consistent, daily habits is daunting, especially when you don't know where to start.Inside The Routine Building Handbook, you'll find everything you need to introduce structure, predictability, and stability into your life, including:

• A customizable habit-building roadmap
• Ideas for weekday, weekend, morning, and night routines
• Examples of realistic, daily routines
• Charts to help you stay organized
• And more

The Routine-Building Handbook is the perfect tool to help you conquer your to-do list and bring joy to your everyday life.

Part 1 NOTICE YOUR NEED (Assessing Routines)

Chapter 1 START WITH THE END IN MIND

When I first began building intentional routines as a stay-at-home mom, I didn’t know what to expect. I stumbled more times than I can count. I would create a routine, start it with high hopes, and find myself back at the drawing board a few weeks later. I thought routine building would be easier since I naturally move toward routine, but this wasn’t the case at all. I was confused and ill equipped, but I never gave up. After months of hits and misses, I sat down to assess what was going wrong and to understand why some of my routines were simple to create and maintain while others were not. Over time I discovered what helps to create successful routines: a positive perspective, patience, and a willingness to start again.

Perspective Is Everything

Ever hear the phrase, “your thoughts become your reality”? The truth is, if you choose to view routines with a negative and unrealistic lens, you will inevitably create negative and unrealistic routines. I cautiously avoid words like “daily,” “boring,” and “restrictive.” Routines are what you make them. If you want routines that are enjoyable and easy to maintain, you first have to believe routines can be fun and easy to maintain. Having a positive perspective and clarity of intent will help you find success with routine building.

If routines are boring or restrictive, it’s either due to a lack of knowledge or they were created with this intent. Rest assured, if you enjoy going with the flow or consider yourself a spontaneous person, routines can still be your jam. Please don’t limit your view of routines. Routines give you the power of choice in the following respects, so choose wisely, my friend:

• Timing: You can decide on the time of day you want to do the routine and the length of time you want the routine to be.
• Frequency: You can decide how often to do the routine (daily, weekly, or monthly).
• Place: You can decide where to do the routine and change this location if and when needed.
• Actions: You have ultimate control in deciding the steps of your routine and the actions you will take.

Trial and Error Is Okay

Starting over doesn’t feel good, but it can be necessary when building routines. It would be extremely rare for anyone to create a routine and never change it; that’s nearly impossible. I wish someone had told me this during my infancy stage of routine building. It would have saved me a bunch of frustration and time. I consider myself a recovering perfectionist, and my journey with routines has taught me some very valuable lessons, including the fact that progress is better than perfection. Even with the help of this book, you are likely to experience trial and error, and that’s okay. See it as your compass, pointing you in the right direction. Don’t run from it, lean into it. Say it with me, “Trial and error is okay.” After all, that’s how this book was born.

Don’t Rush the Process

I get it, your time is of the essence. With technology delivering information at a rapid pace and instant gratification available at the touch of a button, no wonder our patience is growing slimmer and slimmer. But every journey takes time, and routine building is no different. Impatience with the process can damage your results. Ever rush to cook dinner and regret doing so because it tasted like crap? Try rushing to build your routine—it’ll taste like crap too. I understand if your life is in desperate need of routine. Maybe your kids are driving you nuts, your mental health is taking a turn, or your physical health is in jeopardy. Rushing the process by throwing spaghetti at the wall won’t help; thoughtfully creating the right plan will.

Your Easy Yes

Along with knowing what to expect when building a routine, it can be equally important to have an anchor, or a strong motivating factor, to keep you on track. You’ll learn more about motivation in Part 3, but essentially, a proven way to stay motivated is to keep your end goal in mind. This is what I like to call your “easy yes.” Your easy yes will help you get out of bed at 4:30 in the morning, even when everyone else is sleeping comfortably in bed. It’ll push you to jog in the rain knowing you just washed your hair. Your easy yes will catapult you to clean the kitchen when the kids go to bed, although you would rather turn on Netflix.

Your easy yes is the main reason you say yes to including routine in your life. It must be heartfelt, personal, meaningful, and strong enough to drive you to take action immediately. You can think of it this way: What overarching goal do you want to accomplish by building routines? For example, my easy yes is to live my fullest life with ease, joy, and intention. I believe routines help me achieve this goal while keeping me focused and motivated. For example, my morning routine allows me to ease into my day and live it with intention. I’m a 9 a.m. morning, person, which means my brain doesn’t wake up until then. My morning routine includes a simple body massage, prayer, and mental stimulation, which usually consists of picking up my phone and reading a scripture from my favorite Bible app.

Remember, your easy yes is personal. You don’t have to broadcast it to the world. It doesn’t have to be a profound statement that moves you to tears. Your easy yes can be a series of words describing how you want your life to feel. It can also be a short affirmation of intention. It’s your choice, and the sky’s the limit. To provide context, below are a few examples of easy yeses from women using routines to improve their lives. Take time to think of your easy yes because it will become your anchor. Here are some easy yes examples:

• Be more productive.
• Keep my home peaceful and relaxing.
• Spend time being present with my family.
• Focus on my higher goals.
• Keep a clear head.
• Avoid procrastination.
• Be a better mom.
• Stay structured and grounded.
• Manage stress.
• Spend mommy alone time.
• Ease stress and hold myself accountable.

How to Determine Your Easy Yes

Take out a journal or blank sheet of paper (at the top of the paper, write the words “My Easy Yes”). Journal for an entire ten minutes by answering these questions:

• What will routines help me experience and achieve in my life?
• What would make routines an easy yes for me?

Routine Wisdom: Your First Yes May Not ...